Family-Friendly Workplace Policies

Author: Julián Costas-Fernández (School of Economics, University of Surrey)Sebastian Findeisen (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz)Anna Raute (School of Economics and Finance, Queen Mary University of London)Uta Schönberg (HKU Business School, The University of Hong Kong)
Posted: 21 May 2026

Abstract

This paper examines firms’ incentives to provide workplace amenities, focusing on employer-provided childcare, and the implications for gender inequality. Using rich matched employer–employee data linked to a comprehensive firm survey in Germany, we document substantial and persistent effects of employer-provided childcare on mothers’ labor market trajectories. Firms that offer childcare experience higher retention rates and notably shorter career interruptions among first-time mothers, especially those with high pre-birth wages, resulting in meaningful reductions in child penalties of 4.7 percentage points for high-wage mothers. The adoption of firm provided childcare is also associated with stronger employment growth —particularly among mothers and female talent in high-wage occupations—without systematic adverse wage effects for women or mothers. Our findings align with models of imperfect competition, indicating that firms with greater monopsony power have stronger incentives to provide valuable workplace amenities. While firm-provided childcare plays a critical role in reducing gender gaps within firms, our findings also show that access to these benefits is uneven, widening disparities among women and mothers across firms.
JEL codes: J16, J32, J42, J13, J23
Keywords: gender gaps; childcare; workplace amenities; child penalty; monopsony